Ministering Freedom to the ONE!

It was after 11 p.m. and the line of people waiting for prayer continued to grow. Earlier we had told the congregation that we were going to continue to pray till we had prayed for everyone and because of that the line continued to grow. We were tired but it was a good tired and we wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. As we were praying one of the young girls, who was laying upon the floor a short distance away, began to manifest and we instantly knew it wasn’t a good manifestation either. Almost immediately another girl began clutching her head and started screaming. Since we had never known a scream to be a good thing we knew this wasn’t of God. From experience when one starts to manifest demonically if any one else is being troubled by a spirit, (not the Holy Spirit), then they all start to come out of the woodwork and start to manifest. We tried to finish praying for the person before us but we knew that it wasn’t going to happen since several people were standing over the screaming girl praying, “More Lord, More!” And since ‘more’ was not what was needed I (Rex) stayed praying while Lois went over to help her.

Her eyes were full of fear and were darting back and forth as Lois knelt down beside her. Twisting first this way and that upon the floor Lois began to gently call out her name while telling her that Jesus loves her and had sent us there to help her and that everything was going to be all right. Lois knew that she was going to be alright, in fact Lois had pointed her out to me earlier in the meeting but we could not put our finger on what it was about her that was drawing Lois’s attention, now we knew. Looking into those eyes Lois calmly commanded the demonic spirit to submit in the name of Jesus Christ. Speaking the girl’s name and reassuring her that Jesus and Lois were not going to leave her the fear began to leave as the demon was forced to submit and soon it lost its hold over her and she began to once again gain control of her facilities. It took a while as Lois stopped a couple of times to command the spirit to submit. Finally she was able to get to her feet but only for a short time as the spirit tried to gain control again but a short command from Lois had the demon scurrying and Lois could see in her eyes that she was back in control once again.

I (Lois) helped the girl, along with the pastor’s wife and her mother, into a back room. There we were able to find out what was going on with her and begin to help her get free of her struggle. It always amazes us at the amount of people we have in the church who are struggling with troubling spirits. These are spirits who attach themselves to Christians, yes I said Christians! There is a definite difference between being possessed and being troubled by a demonic spirit. For one thing no Christian can be possessed, we are bought with the blood of Jesus and we have the seal of the Holy Spirit. (Read NKJV—Eph. 1:13-14) But we can most definitely be oppressed or troubled by a spirit.

Carlos Annacondia who was used powerfully in the Argentina revival once told us this,
“You in North America give just enough of the gospel to get them saved but not enough to set
them free. Your repentance is too shallow and does not go deep enough.”I have learned that there are different root/sin issues and inroads that continue to allow the enemy to harass and oppress Christians, but one of the main ones that we will discuss in this Newsletter is the lack of heartfelt confession and repentance one to another and the need to pray aloud to ask for forgiveness for the sinful choices we have made in our lives. Also because of our lack of understanding and the misconceptions surrounding what it means to choose to forgive another person through Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit, we often are carriers of past hurts that have allowed bitterness and a continuous stream of bad fruit to have access to our lives. In harboring these hurts within our hearts, that we have acquired either through our own poor choices or through injustices done to us through no fault of our own, we continue to allow the enemy a legal right to trouble us.

As I interviewed the young girl I began to gain her trust and soon I discovered that she was forced to do something immoral against her will and was violated by someone close to her who was meant to protect her. This gives the enemy the legal access to harass her with ungodly sexual soul ties bringing guilt, fear and shame. She was a Christian who knew forgiveness of sin, but as in many
cases like this, she was too ashamed to confess the sin and speak aloud to choose to forgive the person and the violation done against her through the power of the Holy Spirit. Without open confession and casting out ungodly soul ties in Jesus name and in His power and authority the demonic spirit has continual access to torment her. She had never dealt with this secret sin and the shame that came with it, and because of not doing so, she would at times be overwhelmed by feelings that would control her emotions, causing her to have nightmares and preventing her from being able to trust and have meaningful relationships. She also was left with the effects of ungodly sexual soul ties that weaken her spiritually in the area of sexual temptation.

In saying all of this John 10:10 comes to mind. “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” In my observations we quote the second part of John 10 :10 often but we also need to understand the plan of the enemy, as we stay alert and aware of his ploys ,and continually recognize and believe the fact that his ultimate goal is to steal, to kill and to destroy! This understanding is of extreme importance in our living out this life that Our Jesus appropriated for us to have. There really is no good thing in this thief and he never plays fair. Our Father has come to give us life in abundance through the power of the Holy Spirit and He gives us the ability to overcome every temptation sent by the
enemy to take us out. Our Father truly does know what is best for us and we need to trust that He knows what will take us down a path of destruction set as a trap by the thief himself. May we keep His word and precepts in our hearts and draw near to Him as we are captured and transformed by His love even more each day.

We are created in the image of God as we are made up of body, soul, and spirit, and we live in a spiritual world. The reality of the spirit world including angels and demons is very real. When the Holy Spirit is present and His power and anointing are in a room demonic/troubling spirits are exposed because our Lord loves the person and desires for them to be set free! This is what the situation was that day and this young girl was set free by the power and authority of Jesus Christ!

It is an immense privilege to be used as His vessel of love to bring salvation, healing
and deliverance to the broken ones and the oppressed. May we live our own lives in honor of our King and continue to be looking for the “one” that He puts before us as we share the experiences that we have been so graced to be apart of and impart His fire and love to a broken world.